Over the course of this past year, the recent social media trend has been ‘casual’ social media, in the moment pictures showing your ‘reality’. Though in theory, casual social media is supposed to de-stigmatize the formality and anxiety that comes with posting, it has in turn created a new issue of competing lifestyle aesthetics. The “casualness” of social media now encapsulates little snip of your day-to-day lives, getting coffee, weird candid photos with your friends, etc. Yet, this candid aspect of social media creates this false image of what our day-to-day lives actually look like. Though it is casual, there is still an aspect of aestheticism that we all consider when using this new trend, only using the displaying yet again the highlights of our lives.
With all of this said, I am a lover of ‘casual’ social media. I love that people are somewhat more comfortable posting what they want in a more candid sense. Considering the points I made before, I think that it is important to take into consideration that what is displayed on social media is still the best part of many of our lives. With this in mind, there are still some benefits to casual social media.
I have a love for Pinterest. This is a fact known to many it is not something that I particularly chose to hide. Casual social media can act almost as your Pinterest board for your life. It can be used as a tool to romanticize your life. I believe that there is a true beauty in being able to romanticize your life, your passions, the mundane things around you, and even the people surrounding you. There is something so beautiful about taking in everything around you and looking at it from an outside perspective. Romanticizing your life can add a new meaning to the little things and add perspective to all that you may take for granted.
On a day-to-day basis we romanticize strangers’ lives on social media, so why not do the same to your own? With the mindset of romanticizing the little things, it allows you to find the beauty in everything that you do. Romanticize studying at the library or reading a book at the park, you are the star of your own movie. Cool latte art? Take a picture and add it to the Pinterest board of your life. I know that it sounds cheesy but life is too short to not romanticize your accomplishments. Many of us, me included, tend to get stuck in the routine of life without taking a second to really soak it all in.
With all of this said, take life slow, enjoy it, celebrate it and take the time to soak all of it up.